Governor Deval Patrick, on his Twitter feed, wrote "Many Massachusetts residents felt the effects of an earthquake tonight. So far, we have no reports of injury or damage."

Susan Hoover, a geophysicist with the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said there have been no reports so far of any serious damage.

For a quake of that size, any damage would be found in the immediate area, she said.
Most of the initial reports coming in through the USGS website were from people who experienced it as moderate shaking, she said.

The USGS has a record of four similar earthquakes with epicenters within 150 miles of Hollis, Maine, she said.

According to the USGS, there are thousands of earthquakes with magnitudes of at least 4.5 each year.

The Associated Press reports that the Seabrook Station nuclear plant, about 63 miles away in New Hampshire, declared an unusual event – the lowest of four emergency classifications – but officials said the facility was not affected. The plant has been offline for refueling.

"There has been no impact at all to the plant from the earthquake, and our refueling maintenance activities have not been affected," said Alan Griffith, spokesman for NextEra Energy Seabrook Station.